Transparency was further compromised when the review produced two reports: a secret one for the federal minister and a summarised version for the public.
The AWB has successfully defended its monopoly by claiming significant scale is necessary before a seller can demand an acceptable price on world grain markets. If you aren’t big enough, you get short-changed.
If this argument is true, of course, it should be reasonably easy to convince grain growers to pool their product without having to be forced into it. Many Australian companies have achieved critical mass on world markets without coercive legislation.
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The AWB either believes farmers are too stupid to voluntarily agree to a collective selling arrangement that is in their best interests. Or they - in cahoots with the government - thinks the community is dim enough to accept that a private monopoly making profits off the back of our national identity is a good idea.
The roll-out of national competition policy has not been an easy process. In some cases, the gains have been marginal and transitional arrangements have been justified.
The development of the AWB, however, has had very little to do with sound economic policy. It has the hallmarks of politics and sleazy deals - and the results are now starting to show.
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